Cranston Trucking Inc., a provider of transportation and logistics solutions to the U.S. mattress industry, relocated to a new 110,000-square-foot warehouse and terminal facility in High Point, North Carolina. The West Greenwich, Rhode Island-based company and its sister company Cranston Logistics Inc., based in Graham, North Carolina, also are under new ownership as of May 1.
The new high-capacity Cranston Trucking terminal provides major efficiency improvements, greatly improving Cranston’s service offerings to area manufacturers and suppliers, and their customers across the country, said Rodney Ramsey, terminal manager. “We handle and cross-dock thousands of rolls of ticking and hundreds of other pallets through the terminal each week. It gets really busy in here. This extra space, the high bays, bright lights — it all makes for a much more efficient operation, overall, and improves the service we can offer to our customers,” he said.
The previous terminal in a former Sears warehouse in nearby Greensboro, North Carolina, was older, darker and cluttered with vertical beams, low ceilings and other operational inefficiencies, Ramsey said. The old site also was much farther from major interstate highways. “We made do with the old location — we made the best of it. But this new facility, with its proximity to major highways like I-40, I-85 and I-95, help reduce costs and drive time for our transportation partners and our own trucks, which should make the entire supply chain more efficient.”
Dianne Francin, Cranston vice president of sales and industry specialist, said working in the new facility provides immediate improvements in quality assurance to valued customers. “Over the company’s 46-year history, we have developed and implemented quality assurance programs in conjunction and cooperation with the largest manufacturers in the world, and we have reduced loss/damage claims to near-zero. This next step in our expansion plan — to move into this new facility and continue driving down costs — is a continuation of these programs,” she said.
Cranston Trucking has provided less-than-truckload and warehouse/terminal services and other value-added solutions to the bedding industry since 2002. It currently offers shipping, consolidation and other specialized services to a variety of customers, including most major mattress manufacturers across the country, as well as to their raw materials suppliers throughout the East Coast. In addition to the new High Point facility, Cranston operates out of terminals in Greenville and Sumter, South Carolina, as well as at its headquarters in West Greenwich, Rhode Island.
Cranston Logistics provides customers in the bedding industry with customized cross-border and cross-country shipping solutions. This third-party logistics service enables Cranston to greatly expand its offerings to include end-to-end solutions to and from locations in Mexico, Canada and throughout the United States, the company said.
The flexibility and breadth of service offerings is what attracted new Cranston owner Drew Gilman, who has more than 20 years of experience as an owner and operator of transportation and logistics companies.
“Cranston Trucking has grown steadily from its humble beginnings in 1975 as an in-house carrier for parent company Cranston Print Works, to its current position as a leading provider of value-added supply chain services to the nationwide bedding industry,” Gilman said. “With the move to our new warehouse in High Point, we are poised to begin the next chapter in the company’s history, and it’s an exciting time to step in.
“Cranston’s management team is highly experienced, motivated and professional. We understand our place in the supply chain, and we strive to improve and strengthen the chain every day. I think we have a lot of room to grow and expand our service offerings. I’m excited to be a part of the team and looking forward to working with our partners in the bedding industry.”
